Steps on rupee full float soon

PTIMar 20, 2006, 12.12pm IST

NEW DELHI: With prime minister Manmohan Singh favouring full float of the rupee, finance minister, P Chidambaram said on monday that the government and RBI would in the next few days announce steps on capital account convertibility of the Indian currency.FM said at a CII function, "Prime Minister has made a very definitive statement day before yesterday and RBI and the government would announce next steps (on capital account convertibility) in a few days from now."Full float of the rupee would facilitate conversion of the Indian currency into foreign currency and vice versa -- a move that would help attract greater investments. At present, the rupee is convertible on current account, basically for trade purposes.Chidambaram said the finance ministry and RBI had discussions on capital account convertibility of the rupee and the issue could have been part of the Budget 2006-07.